


Now That I See You

by PusillanimousBitch1138



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cute, F/M, Fluff, Injury, also angst, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 07:52:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18912706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PusillanimousBitch1138/pseuds/PusillanimousBitch1138
Summary: Steve introduces you to Bucky, and you two become fast friends.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> INFINITY WAR AND ENDGAME DIDN'T HAPPEN  
> WE DON'T TALK ABOUT IT  
> NOPE  
> NONE OF THAT HERE.

The day you met James Buchannan Barnes was a fucking weird one, to say the least.

Firstly, you were awoken to a huge boom accompanied by the entire complex shaking. It scared you so bad you fell out of bed like something out of a movie. You crawled to the door and cracked it open, sticking your head out to look around. You heard shouting from the end of the hallway before the door to the lab burst open in a cloud of smoke and Tony stumbled out, coughing, waving a rag towards the smoke. “I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS CLEAR!” he shouted.

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE TAKING CARE OF IT!” Banner shouted back. You groaned loudly and dropped your head, dragging yourself back into your room. You desperately needed to get a room farther away from the Science Bros’ Cave. This happened far too often.

Begrudgingly, you had gotten dressed and shuffled past their now fully-ventilated lab and paused to look to see what happened. Several machines which you were sure cost more than your entire last three years of college tripled were upturned, some melted, others just blackened; fire damage had raked up the wall near Banner’s desk. But the SciBros were now huddled over Tony’s workspace, backs to the door, babbling away about some techno mumble jumble as if nothing had happened. You let out a huff and moved on towards the elevator, grumbling.

You were looking at your phone when the elevator dinged and the second weird happenstance of the day occurred. You walked into the elevator, reading something about a dog named Ezri who borks instead of barks when you collided with something. You fell back with a yelp and looked up to see what you had hit. “Oh, Y/N/N, sorry are you ok?”

You sighed heavily and dropped your head back. “Peter, what the fuck man?”

You looked up to see the kid hanging suspended from the ceiling of the elevator, his phone on the ground beside you. He reached out a hand and you took it, letting his freakish strength lift you up. “I’m hiding from May,” he whispered.

You chuckled slightly, hitting the button for the main floor. “Your aunt? What’d you do this time?”

“Oh, you know, the usual.”

You turned to him and lifted an eyebrow and he sighed, dropping to his feet beside you. “I broke curfew again,” he grumbled.

You let out a snort and stepped off the elevator. “The Mighty Spiderman afraid of sweet little Aunt—MAY!” you let out a yelp as you spotted her across the hall and you shoved Peter back into the elevator. He mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ to you and you smiled brightly at May and walked over to her. “What’s up?”

She sighed and raked a hand through her hair. “I’m trying to find my no-good nephew. He’s hiding from me.”

You chuckled and patted her arm. “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.”

You left her to her search and moved on towards the kitchen. The coffee was almost finished and you had just put your bagel in the toaster when you heard Cap’s voice coming towards you. He was talking to someone about the complex, which indicated it was someone new, or at least new to this location. You were leaned against the counter, plate and mug ready for your breakfast behind you, scrolling through Tumblr when they arrived. “This is the kitchen, and honestly I don’t know what half these things do. Oh, this is Y/N. Y/N/N, I’d like you to meet an old friend of mine, Bucky. She’s a sorcerer and usually works with Doctor Strange.”

You waved unthinkingly before his words hit you and you jumped, looking up. “Oh, hi, sorry, dogs.” You waved your phone slightly, showing them a vine compilation of dog pictures. You froze when you saw Steve’s friend. The only word going through your head was, ‘dayum.’ He smiled and held his hand out for you to shake and you took it slowly, pretty sure your mouth was open. You shook yourself out of it and smiled, enthusiastically shaking his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” you managed.

He smiled and you could’ve sworn a fucking angel choir had burst forth from the heavens. “Please, the pleasure is all mine.”

Suddenly you were hella thankful you had decided to get actually dressed instead of stumbling around in your nasty-ass pajamas with messy hair. You let go of his hand and tucked a strand behind your ear, positive you were blushing. The two of you just smiled at each other for an increasingly uncomfortable long time before Steve clapped his hands together and Bucky and you jumped. “Well, we should continue with the tour. Tony said he had something brewing up in the lab.”

You scoffed, turning to make your coffee. “Whatever it was, it blew up. Again.”

Steve laughed and patted your shoulder in passing. “You really need to get a new room, kiddo.”

You nodded, smattering cream cheese on your bagel. “You’re telling me,” you grumbled. You turned to watch the two of them go, smirking slightly. This ‘Bucky’ guy was going to be your best friend. You could just feel it. And then the third weirdass event of the day happened. As you were about to head out of the kitchen with your bagel and your coffee, you felt something…pass through you. And the feeling was so overwhelming, you definitely fainted.

When you awoke, it was to several pairs of concerned eyes. “Hey, you ok?” Steve was leaning closest to your face.

You sat up slightly and looked around, blinking in confusion. “What the hell was that?”

Vision rubbed the back of his neck and then put his fingertips together delicately. “I believe it was um… my fault.”

You paused for a moment before reality hit and you groaned. “Vision? Did you phase through me?”

He glanced at the others before nodding slowly. “Yeesss… That is indeed what transpired.”

You groaned and laid back on the ground, closing your eyes. “Is it Tuesday yet?”


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky has an episode.

A few weeks had passed since Bucky moved in, and you were right. He very quickly became one of your best friends on the base, which was saying a lot. The both of you were almost always together, often with Steve or Peter. Steve had started things up with an elementary teacher, so he didn’t have time to be jealous that two of his best friends were hanging out without him.

This particular morning, you were just ungodly bored. You woke up to a pretty quiet morning. Most of the crew had left for a few days or were shut up in their rooms (*cough*wandandvision*cough*.) The only people left in the complex and not constantly boning were yourself, Banner, Bucky, and Scott, but Scott was just hanging out for like a day on his way up to Canada.

It was nice not waking up to a chemical fire or an implosion or some otherwise just ridiculously annoying sounds of building for a change. You had woken up in a miraculously pleasant mood, showered, gotten dressed, and were sitting on the couch in the shared living room watching TV in like an hour. Scott had come and plopped with you for a while and you scoffed over the asshole family members on the bridal dress show. Eventually, he had scooted off to go try to break into Tony’s safe (“not to take anything, just to see if I can,” he insists,) leaving you alone.

It was now mid-afternoon, and you’d heard from literally nobody since Scott left. The silence was starting to set in, and you went from being in one of the best moods you’ve been in to being extraordinarily, deathly bored. And you were starting to get concerned. By now, you and Bucky had established a bit of a routine. You were usually up a few hours before he was, but he usually had come down and found you by at least noon. Obviously, you weren’t confined to this routine, but you were beginning to grow concerned.

You gave it another hour until the bridal show had begun to replay the earlier episodes and sighed heavily. You glanced at the clock and frowned. Nearly five. Even if he wasn’t going to hang out with you, Bucky would definitely have come and gotten food by now. And like, he is a super soldier spy, so maybe he did it just hella quiet, but you weren’t convinced. With a sigh, you heaved yourself off the couch and crossed over to the elevator.

Once on the floor where Bucky lived, you were marked by how just utterly silent it was. There was no TV running, no radio, no nothing. You went to his door and knocked quietly and waited. There was no response, so you called, “Bucky?” You waited again, knocked again, and counted to 20. After you got to 20 you gently turned the door knob and opened the door slowly. “Hey, Buck?” You froze upon seeing the room. It had been completely destroyed. The couch was upturned, there was a hole in the TV, the table had been broken, four parallel streaks scraped down the far wall, shit even one of the ceiling lights had been ripped out. You stepped back and immediately conjured your light shields before you went further into the room. There wasn’t a single thing item that hadn’t been touched; everything was either broken or misplaced. The silence was becoming deafening, the only sound you could hear your heartbeat and your breathing.

It appeared that nobody was here, so you dropped one of your shields and tried to call Bucky. As it rung, you heard the familiar chirping ringtone that belonged to Bucky’s phone coming from somewhere in the devastation of the bedroom. You used your sorcerer powers to move the heavy stuff aside, lowering your phone but letting it continue ringing. You found the phone underneath a destroyed drawer, a crack in the screen, a picture of the two of you sitting on the couch together smiling up at you. You pocketed the phones and looked around. “What the fuck, Buck?” you whispered.

You made your way to the bathroom, a full-blown panic blooming inside you. You leaned down and cupped water in your hands, splashing your face in an attempt to calm down. You stood back up, taking a deep breath before movement in the mirror caused you to conjure daggers in both hands and spin on the spot. You frowned and released the energy of the daggers before crossing over to the corner of the walk-in shower. “Bucky?” you whispered.

He was sitting on the floor in a huddle, his knees drawn in, his arms around them. He was wearing jeans but no shirt, no socks or shoes. There were flecks of paint on his vibranium arm, and his human hand had dried blood on it, small cracks all across the skin. He didn’t seem to notice you were there, just staring down at the floor, hair around his face.

“Hey, Buck, what’s going on?” You waited for him to answer but he didn’t. You slowly reached to put your hand on his but he pinned it against the wall with his vibranium arm. You gasped against the pain and tried to squirm out but he held you firm for a solid minute before he let go, resuming his original position. You held your quickly bruising hand against your chest and backed up, tears in your eyes. “Bucky. Talk to me.” He wouldn’t meet your gaze and after a few minutes, you got up and stepped into the other room, pulling out your phone.

“Y/N? What’s up?” Steve’s voice was a little louder than you anticipated, covering the sound of screaming kids. He and his girlfriend must be at a park or something.

You took in a shaky breath and stepped farther away from the shut bathroom door. “It’s um… It’s Bucky.”

The kids in the background quickly got farther away. Steve must’ve been heading somewhere quieter. “What happened?” His voice was serious and hard but concerned.

“I… I don’t know. His room is trashed. He’s just sitting in the shower. He won’t talk to me, he won’t look at me. He even… he hurt me, a little, but I don’t know that he knows that he did it.” You swallowed a lump of tears and crossed over to the window, opening it so the chilly March air could come through.

Steve was silent for a long minute. “I’m coming back.”

“Steve, what is it? What’s going on?”

Another long silence before he sighed. “It’s his birthday.”

You knit your eyebrows together in confusion. “His birthday?”

“Yeah. See, since he was freed from the winter soldier program, he’s had a rough time with it all. I thought he was better after his sojourn in Wakanda, but obviously not. I shouldn’t have left him alone. It’s on me. I can be back by morning.”

“N… No, don’t. I can handle it. I think. Probably. It’ll be fine.”

“No, I’m coming back.”

“Steve, I got it. Go back to your girlfriend and enjoy your break. I’ll figure something out with Bucky.”

There was a long minute where you could almost hear his frustration building up before he let out a heavy sigh. “Alright. But call me the second something else happens, ok?”

You smiled slightly and nodded. “Yeah, of course I will. Bye, Steve.” You hung up and put your phone back in your pocket, trying to devise a plan. After a few minutes, you went back into the bathroom and sat across from Bucky, careful not to touch him. You just sat in silence for a while, still thinking. Finally, after a while, you smiled slightly. “Hey, Buck, let’s go somewhere, yeah?” You got up and ran back to your room and grabbed your sling ring from the box on your nightstand. You conjured a portal back to Bucky’s bathroom and stepped through, hands on your hips. “We can go literally anywhere in the world you wanna go. We could go tooooooooo Bora Bora, Taipei, Tijuana, Nome, anywhere. What do you say, huh?” He didn’t move, so you knelt beside him. You leaned in slightly and reached for him but stopped, remembering the darkening bruise on your hand. You moved so you were sitting right beside him, almost touching shoulders, and you raised your hand to conjure a portal. “Or we could just stay here and watch a sunset.” You smiled slightly, circling your hand to conjure the beginnings of a sun setting over a warm beach. The smell of the sand wafted through, and the sound of the waves crashing overcame the sound of the portal and permeated the silence between you. You dropped your hands, keeping the portal open.

The two of you sat together like that for a while before you noticed him beginning to relax. The sun was almost half gone now, casting warm orange light over the both of you. You looked at him and smiled softly, seeing that he was looking at the waves, his hands unclenched. You carefully reached over and took his hand in yours and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. He didn’t flinch or withdraw, which you took as a good sign. After a few more minutes, you laid your head on his shoulder and pulled his hand into your lap, holding it with both of yours. “I’m here for you, James.” You barely breathed it, and you weren’t even sure he had heard you until his thumb twitched slightly across yours. You glanced at him and he very briefly glanced in your direction but not at you, and you knew that for now this was enough.

You sat for another hour or two, well until the sun had passed below the horizon. Eventually, you closed the portal and sighed, patting Bucky’s hand gently. “Come on,” you said. You stood up and turned to him expectantly. He slowly looked up at you. You smiled at him and held out your hand. “We’re gonna go make some chicken nuggets and some pizza and whatever the hell else we want.” He didn’t move, so you sighed and leaned down, taking his hands. “Come on,” you repeated, more gently this time.

He let you pull him to his feet and drag him to the elevator and down to the shared living space. You plopped him on the couch and set about getting an entire bag of chicken nuggets put in the microwave while also asking Friday to order about $600 worth of takeout (Chinese, pizza, Greek, schwarma, etc) and charging it to Tony’s card. You went over to the couch and set the chicken nuggets down along with three sauce-bowls of dippings and you turned on the TV, flicking through the channels. Finally, after a few minutes of flicking, a familiar scene opened up with a familiar voice announcing that this was the story of how he died. You squealed in delight and settled back, pulling a blanket across you. “It’s Tangled!” you cheered. Bucky said nothing but leaned back, almost relaxing.

Once the takeout had all arrived, you had moved to the floor and had it all arranged in a circle around you. Bucky stayed up on the couch but ate whatever you handed him. With each song that came up, you were singing along with them, glancing at him occasionally to see if his mood was progressing (which it was, albeit very slowly.)

Once the scene with the boat and the lanterns came up, you had finally stopped eating, absolutely stuffed. You had settled between Bucky’s legs, using his knees as arm rests. By the time the boat scene had come around, he had started picking his own food and was eating silently, slowly.

When Flynn went back to the tower, you had tensed up. A movie crier, this scene always gets you. When Gothel kicked Pascal, you whimpered. When Flynn was dying, you had been crying silently, wiping your eyes. You felt Bucky shift slightly and he had scooped you up, sitting on the floor where you had been before he resettled you between his legs and hugged you back into him. You looked back at him in surprise and he wiped your last tear away, not meeting your eyes, and not quite back yet, but almost there. You smiled slightly and looked back at the movie, leaning into him, letting him hold you.

Once Tangled had ended, The Princess Bride took its place and the two of you watched it together. By the time the movie had ended, both of you had managed to almost finish half the leftovers. Bucky still hadn’t spoken, but he insisted on continuing to hold you. It was a little weird, as the two of you hadn’t ever been so physically close aside from the time you accidentally tackled him while running from Peter after playing a trick on him by adding a chemical to make the solution explode (non-caustically, of course) when stirred. But, truthfully, you didn’t mind the proximity. You had begun to develop feelings for the winter soldier, so even if nothing could come from it, you took the moment to enjoy the closeness you might never get again.

The two of you had stayed up until nearly 6 in the morning before you told him you had to call it quits. He helped you condense the leftovers enough to fit in the fridge and clean up the living room before you both headed to the elevator. You paused before pressing the button and turned to him. “You know, you definitely broke your bed.”

He didn’t say anything.

You rolled your eyes. “I have a futon. You’re sleeping in my room tonight. And don’t you dare fight me on this.” You wagged a finger up to him while making a face. He almost smiled. Almost. But followed you to your room dutifully. He paused at the doorway before he stepped inside. You were in your closet, rummaging around for a set of sheets for the futon, humming the boat song from Tangled quietly. When you went back into your room, Bucky was sitting on your bed, looking at the photographs you had strung up on your walls. You smiled slightly and set about making up the futon, letting him hang out and relax. By the time you had the futon made up, Bucky had gone to the bathroom, so you quickly changed into a set of pajama pants and a comfy bra and sat on your bed. You were scrolling through Facebook when he came back out in a pair of pants you had lent him that were about two sizes too small. They looked like legging capris on him, and you almost laughed. Went over and sat on the futon and watched you for a while. After about half an hour, you looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “What?”

He got up and walked over to your bed, sitting down beside you. You put your phone down and looked over at him. He reached over and took your now dark purple wrist gently. He ghosted his thumb over it, frowning. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

You sighed in relief to hear his voice and you smiled softly, nudging him. “It’s alright.”

“It’s not, though. I’ve hurt you.”

You nodded slightly before entwining your fingers with his. “Yeah, but I understand. And I forgive you. It’s just a bruise. It’ll heal.” He grew silent again and brushed his thumb over yours. You repressed a shiver and scooted the covers up around you. “Someday, Bucky, I hope you’ll be well enough and trust me enough to talk to me about it.”

He looked at you with his deep blue eyes and frowned. “I do trust you, Y/N.”

You smiled slightly and patted his hand before scooting down to lay on your side. “Good.”

He looked over at the futon before looking back at you. Before you realized why, he was lying down beside you, facing you. You blushed but didn’t protest. You reached up and hit the light button on the control panel above the bed and the two of you were encased in darkness. He reached forward in the dark before finding your hand and taking it in his human hand, holding it gently. You smiled slightly and closed your eyes, letting sleep take you.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Strange asks you to come teach at the Sanctum, and you are gravely injured.

A few months had passed since the incident, and Bucky had been back to his old self for a while. He had insisted on helping you do literally everything for the week following because of how bad he felt about your wrist. Everyone had come home within the week following his breakdown, and Steve had asked you for a full debrief of what went down and he had spent an entire day in seclusion with Bucky, talking it over. Steve wouldn’t tell you what they talked about, insisting it was up to Bucky, and you respected that. All that Steve did say on the subject, however, was that Bucky is still wracked with guilt about injuring you, but that Steve doesn’t think he did it on purpose. (“Sometimes he gets into these…trances and he doesn’t always know what he’s doing.”) You had insisted that it was alright, you understood, you knew Bucky would never intentionally hurt you, etc.

About seven months after the incident, Doctor Strange had asked for you to come back to the sanctum to help with a new batch of recruits seeing as there were only 3 sorcerers left after the attacks lead by Kaecilius. You had agreed, and your leaving was bittersweet. You knew that it would be another few months, maybe a year or so, before you would come back for any real measurable period of time. The gang had gotten so used to you that they (mostly Steve) insisted on having dinner together to say goodbye. Wanda had made a giant pot of paprikash; Natasha made some pirozhki; Steve made a meatloaf and a pie; and Tony had ordered pizza and Chinese as backups. It was a real clusterfuck of a dinner spread, but it tickled you to see how much everyone enjoyed your company.

You had all eaten together around the briefing room table as the dining room table wasn’t big enough yet. You had all talked and laughed and told stories. Some of them asked you about the particulars of the sorcerer training and you told them some funny stories about Wong and Strange’s ridiculous interactions, about the Sorcerer Supreme before Strange took over, how she had stranded him on Everest to help his powers manifest, how she had been almost like a mother to you before she died. You had been crying a little without realizing, and Bucky, who was sitting beside you, had reached under the table and put his hand on your knee in sympathy. You smiled and wiped your eyes, moving on the conversation to what the fuck Tony and Bruce were doing that had blown the lab up again. You had put your hand on top of Bucky’s and squeezed it gently. He kept it there for a while past dinner.

As everyone was cleaning up, Bucky pulled you aside into a hallway. He was struggling for words, but eventually just held out a small gift bag to you, your favorite color.

You raised an eyebrow and smiled, taking it from him. “What’s this for?”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and swallowed. “I um. Well. I wanted you to have something to remember me by while you’re away.”

You reached into the bag and pulled out a small ring box. You looked back at him, both eyebrows raised in surprise now. “Bucky, you aren’t proposing are you?”

His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he shook his head. “No, nonononono that’s not, no.”

You laughed and shoved his shoulder gently. “Chill man, I’m kidding.” You looked down and opened the box then let out the tiniest of gasps. It was indeed a ring, but not an engagement ring. It looked like a class ring, but very old and worn down. The centerpiece was blue, the same blue as Bucky’s eyes, and you could just barely make out the words “United States Army” circling the stone. It was attached to a simple silver chain necklace.

Bucky swallowed. “It was um. It was my service ring. From the military. Steve had it. Said he found it after… after I fell. The chain broke and it must’ve fallen off during the fight on the train I guess.”

You were blushing now, holding the ring gingerly between your fingers. “Bucky, I… I can’t take this this is too much.”

You were reaching to give it back to him but he shook his head and shut your fist over it, holding your hand with both of his. “You’re one of my best friends, Y/N/N. You’ve become such a big part of my life. I want you to have it.”

You looked up at him, meeting his steely blue gaze with your own before you smiled softly. You turned around and pulled your hair to the side, holding the chain out to him. He stepped close to you, close enough you could feel his body heat, and he reached around you to clasp the necklace around your neck. He lingered a moment longer than necessary before stepping back, and you looked down at the ring settled against your chest. You smiled up at him and stepped into him, wrapping your arms around him. “I’ll treasure it forever,” you whispered.

He hugged you tightly, resting his head on yours for a moment.

In the hallway beside you, a portal crackled open and you groaned, seeing Doctor Strange stepping through. “Y/N it’s nearly time for introductions. Hurry up.”

You rolled your eyes and shooed him away before looking up at Bucky. A big part of you wanted to kiss him and profess your love, but you didn’t want to ruin your friendship, especially before he had time to respond. Instead, you stretched up on your toes and pressed your lips to his cheek and hugged him again, quickly, tightly. You pulled back and stepped backwards towards the portal, smiling at him. “I’ll call you like every day. You’re not even gonna have time to miss my ass. It’ll be like I never left.”

He chuckled and crossed his arms across his chest. “I’m sure it won’t,” he said.

You laughed and then yelled out a quick goodbye to everyone else, not even sure who was within earshot. You would text them all later. And then you stepped through the portal and waved goodbye one last time, and then closed it.

Xxx

You had kept your word. You called Bucky almost every single day, and on the days you didn’t, he called you. You had worn his ring over your heart every day, not even taking it off to sleep or shower. In some weird way, it felt like he had almost claimed you as his girlfriend, and the thought made you giggle like a teenager. Of course this wasn’t the case, but you couldn’t help but wonder. After all, back in his day, giving your girl your class ring meant you were going steady or some shit like that. But you digress.

The months were long and boring. You actually didn’t have much time to pop home to see everyone after all. These new recruits were just all over the place. Some were gifted as shit like you and Strange, and others were also terrible as shit, like Strange. Wong wasn’t any help, either, spending nearly all his time in the library instead of out on the grounds teaching. Before Kaecilius’s rebellion, it took about 1 master to every 2 students to teach them properly, but you and Strange were all that was left. It was rough, to say the least, but you were making progress. The students had gone beyond portals and defense and were now in their battle training, nearing the end. In just one or two more weeks, they would be ready to go off on their own and study independently on whatever they wanted and be able to grow and develop into masters so more recruits could be trained. You knew a few of them would become healers, two or three of them had shown great interest in defensive illusion, and the rest, who knew? You certainly didn’t, but the end was in sight and you were rejoicing. You could go home soon. Home to your own bed. To your own shit. To Bucky.

The closer it got to “graduation” (really it was just everybody going out to get shitfaced together to celebrate the communal progression beyond mediocrity,) the less you were able to focus. It had now been 7 weeks since you had last physically seen Bucky, and even that was only for like two hours before you had to call it a night and come back to Kamar-Taj to sleep before lessons. And you missed him. You missed him like crazy. Strange knew, of course. You were really close to him and to Wong. They were like annoying-ass brothers to you. Strange had noticed the ring and asked about it almost the second you were through the portal, and once you admitted that Bucky had given it to you, that was all he could talk about. He liked to tease you about it, but you mostly quipped back about Christine and he would just roll his eyes and change the topic. Wong was mostly just happy you found someone to love, but worried Bucky didn’t love you back. He didn’t say it like that, of course, mostly what he said were along the lines of “don’t marry yourself to him before he’s even said he likes you,” and while you understood and even agreed with what Wong said, you couldn’t bring yourself to ‘divorce’ the idea of Bucky. For you, for now, he was the one. And the one almost got you killed.

One of your students was a prodigy, Felton. You’d never seen anything like it. He had come to Kamar-Taj with the abilities of a student who had been training for years, but refused to talk about his past. Even the doc couldn’t get a read on him, and for a Sorcerer Supreme, that meant something. The doc had insisted on training him directly because it was obvious this student scared you, although you didn’t know why. Something about his aura was dark, threatening to you, but he had done nothing directly wrong and was obviously gifted, so he was allowed to stay.

There had been an incident in the Hong Kong sanctum. Strange had left to take care of it, leaving you and Wong alone with the students. Wong actually came out of his hole in the library to help you, and he took the weaker students because you were getting frustrated. Something was different this day. There was something in the air that made you highly uncomfortable, and underneath this discomfort, you were thinking of home. It was just a few days now before you could return. You had been training the higher-skilled students on some forms of defensive weapons, training them how to find what weapon felt right to them and how to use it best to their abilities. You had demonstrated your daggers to them, explaining that your preference for close-up fighting was the reason behind them instead of, say, a whip. You had asked them all to meditate upon themselves, to look inside to see what kind of fighter they were, if they were defensive, offensive, protective, far-ranged, close-ranged, etc., and to try to picture the weapon that felt most correct to them. You had had some real weapons laid out for them to use as inspiration if they needed it. Some chose swords, some shields, some a bow and arrow, but Felton had chosen nothing. You decided to let the others go off and train against each other to get used to their new choices, make sure it was right, that it suited them. You had approached Felton as he meditated, your hands behind your back, and raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never known you to hesitate before.”

Felton smirked, his eyes still closed. “I’m just trying to be absolutely sure,” he whispered.

You suppressed an involuntary shiver and cleared your throat. “Is there anything I can help you with?” You tried your best to keep your voice steady, to hide the apprehension building up in you.

“No, thank you.” He opened one eye and looked up at you, his smirk widening. “I’ve almost decided.”

You nodded once and then turned on your heel to go observe the other students. A few minutes passed and you were leaning against a pillar, arms folded across your chest, watching them fight but not really seeing. Instead, your fingers brushed against Bucky’s ring and you were barely smiling, imagining the feeling of his embrace. Wong and his students filed past, and he gave you a quick pat on the shoulder and a smile before heading in. They must’ve been done for the day, or at least heading down to the library for some other form of lesson. You turned back to your students and called for one of them to correct his stance before you let yourself zone out again.

Just as you were trying to recall his smell, a slab of metal flew past your head. You squealed and turned to see what had happened, only to see Felton there, grinning wickedly. In his hands were some of the weapons you had brought out, mostly daggers, with a mace tucked into his belt. You frowned, conjuring your daggers to you. “What’s the meaning of this?”

He let out a singular chuckle before he hurled another dagger towards you, this time aiming for your face. You managed to cast it away, but once you had, Felton was on you, tackling you down the hill behind you, far away from your students. You tumbled seemingly endlessly before you hit the bottom, letting out a groan as the breath was knocked out of you. And then you were in the air, Felton’s hand around your throat. He was grinning at you, his eyes alight with insanity. “Where is he?” he breathed.

You glowered back down at him and moved your hands as if to conjure a weapon but instead kicked him in the chest. He let out a grunt and you used his confusion to flip away from him, landing on both feet, daggers drawn again. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

He chuckled slowly, lowly, and then slowly raised his hand. Dangling from his fingers was your necklace, Bucky’s ring hanging heavily. You instinctively reached up to your neck and fury welled within you at its absence. “Oh, I believe you do.”

You let out a yell and lunged at him, moving to strike him in the side, but he swept away. “Where is he?” he said again, taunting, wagging the necklace in your face in a boast. You scowled and lunged at him again, and this time he fought back.

The two of you were head to head for what felt like eons before you finally managed to land a hit, although only grazing his cheek. “WHO ARE YOU?” you screamed between movements.

He only grinned, parrying your thrusts evenly, but also equally unable to land a hit.

The fight dragged on until the sun began to set before he found an opening. He had drawn you onto an old fighting ground, now overgrown with vines and other fauna. As you were coming at him, he managed to sweep his feet so that he caught a vine and tripped you, and he was on you in seconds, he had you pinned, straddling your waist, one hand and one knee holding your hands down, the other hand holding a very real dagger to your neck. “Tell. Me. Where. He. Is.”

You said nothing, glaring back at him. After a minute, he pressed the blade into your flesh, enough to draw a single drop of blood, and still you said nothing. Instead, you spit in his face. Overcome with rage, Felton punched you, once, hard, right in the nose. It was definitely broken, blood pouring down back towards your ears. You spat blood to the side, and only smirked back up at him. “I’ll die before I tell you,” you whispered.

He smirked and withdrew the dagger from your neck. “I can arrange that,” he growled menacingly.

He drew the blade in the air and grinned at you like something out of a bad anime where his eyes were literally glowing with insanity, and just as he brought the blade down into your chest, so too did a blade fly into his neck, throwing him off of you. You could barely see beyond the pain, but you turned your head to see who had saved you. Strange was running towards you, sliding to kneel beside you. He screamed back up the hill for Wong who quickly came to see what was up. When he saw you lying there, he practically jumped down the side of the hill to help.

Strange opened a portal to what looked like…a cleaning closet? and then scooped you up in his arms, careful not to move the dagger. You were beginning to black out, now, darkness creeping on the edges of your vision. Your head fell back to dangle and you saw Wong huddled over Felton’s body, making sure he was dead just before the portal closed.

Strange barreled through the door and started running down the hall shouting, “CHRISTINE!!!”

A young woman in scrubs came running and opened a door to a sparse operating room where Strange placed you on the table. They were talking, but you couldn’t hear what was being said. Your eyes were growing heavy, and just as Strange was placing EKG monitors on your chest, you lost the fight and were sucked under into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize I don't ever explain why Felton wanted Bucky, but I wrote this like 4 years ago so like...my desire to fix it is negligible.


	4. Now That I See You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky sings, and there's a wedding. (Yes, it's a songfic)

You dreamed of Bucky. Like a lot. Not all of it sex, but quite a bit of it sex. In some dreams, the two of you were just sitting on the couch, in some, you were in a field of flowers, in some, you were arguing about something irrelevant like whether or not there could be purple, testicle-chinned aliens who want to destroy half the universe because life is too greedy to sustain itself.

You weren’t even sure you had woken up. There were bright lights, and many of your dreams were well-lit. You were in a bed, which also wasn’t unusual, but you weren’t naked, which was. You began to focus in, the sound of a heart monitor steadily beeping behind you, the IV in your hand twinging as you tried to flex your fingers, an ugly-ass floral pattern decorated the ceiling behind a bright-ass light. You had grunted without feeling it come out, and you heard a shuffle from the corner of the room before a familiar pair of crystal blue eyes were hovering over you. “Hey, you’re awake.”

You felt yourself smile before you realized it was because he was smiling. He looked like shit, bags under his red, swollen eyes, a slight grease buildup in his hair, and frankly he smelled a little. You blinked, taking like 3 solid seconds to open your eyes again. “You look like shit.”

He chuckled and pulled a chair over, taking your non-IV hand in his. “Yeah, well, you haven’t exactly been around to remind me to take my shower.” His voice was a little hoarse, and the tip of his nose was red. He’d been crying.

You turned your head to look at him, blinking again. You wiggled your fingers in his and smiled again. “I guess graduation got a little derailed.”

He rolled his eyes and smiled wider, just staring at you.

A few minutes passed before the doors open and Strange walked in with the woman from before in tow. She leaned over you, checking your bandages, checking your IV. She asked you the routine questions, “How you feeling, are you in any pain, can you follow my finger,” etc., etc. She seemed please with the responses you gave her.

Strange was hanging back, arms folded across his chest, smiling slightly. You noticed he was looking at Bucky holding your hand, and you followed his gaze, smiling. Once Christine was done checking you out, she put her stethoscope back around her neck and smiled, announcing she was going to leave you guys alone.

“I’m going to go get something to drink from the vending machine,” Bucky said softly. You turned and smiled at him, nodding, and he squeezed your hand before leaving.

You looked back at Strange and raised your eyebrows. “What the fuck happened?”

Strange recounted you fighting Felton, and told you that Wong had managed to find out that he had been a sorcerer before, before any of you had come to Kamar-Taj, and that’s how he had overpowered you. He told you about your injuries (namely, a punctured lung, a scratched heart, internal bleeding, and two or three broken ribs.) You listened silently, waiting for him to finish. He moved over and sat in Bucky’s seat before he took your hand and pressed something into it. You looked down and felt tears well up in your eyes and you smiled up at him. You brought the ring to your chest and struggled to hook it back around your neck before he moved to help you. He glanced at the door to make sure nobody was coming before he leaned in and smirked. “He hasn’t left your side once in six days.”

You blushed and smiled softly, reaching up to hold the ring. The door opened, and Bucky came back, a soda for him, a coffee for strange, and a cup of water for you. Strange let him sit back down before he left through a portal, telling you to call him when you were better.

You sipped your water slowly, regarding Bucky. “So. Six days, huh?”

Bucky looked back at you, leaned back in his chair. “Yep. It’s Sunday now.”

You smirked at him and sipped your water again. “No wonder you look like shit.” If you weren’t currently on a morphine drip, you could’ve sworn he was blushing.

Xxx

You were well enough to leave by the following weekend, and you went home to the complex the old-fashioned way (i.e., Tony’s private jet.) When you arrived, you saw that everyone had gotten together to throw you a welcome home party, and you were overjoyed to see everyone again. The party lead on to around 2am before most everyone called it quits or went to their room to do something else. You and Bucky were left alone in the living quarters. You had insisted that you absolutely needed to bake cookies, so you were in the kitchen working on that while Bucky was scrolling through the TV channels. He stopped after a few minutes and you smiled, hearing a familiar melody. It was Tangled, again, but around the scene where Rapunzel and Flynn are being chased into the quarry and almost died.

You were kneading the dough when the boat song came on, and you were singing, mostly to yourself. You came to the part where Flynn begins to sing,

_All those days chasing down a daydream,_

You made it halfway through the first beat before you realized Bucky was singing

_All those years living in a blur_

You put the dough down and turned around, surprised to see him standing only a few feet away, looking directly at you. You blushed furiously under his gaze.

_All that time never truly seeing_

_Things, the way they were_

You started to ask what he was doing but he stepped closer, and the words froze in your throat.

_Now she’s here shining in the starlight_

_He took another step closer_

_Now she’s here suddenly I know_

He was just a foot or two away now, close enough you could smell his cologne over the smell of the dough, his eyes never leaving yours.

_If she’s here it’s crystal clear_

He was in front of you now, close enough to feel his warmth.

_I’m where I’m meant to go_

You were blushing furiously, not sure what to do but Bucky reached up with his human hand to cup your cheek. You swallowed hard and looked up at him, instinctively pressing your hands against his chest. Under your shaking breath, you joined him in singing the end of the song

_And at last I see the light_

_And it’s like the fog has lifted_

_And at last I see the light_

_And it’s like the sky is new_

_And it’s warm and real and bright_

_And the world has somehow shifted_

_All at once everything is different_

_Now that I see you_

_Now that I see you_

And as the song came to a flourish, Bucky swept a strand of hair behind your ear, moving his hand to the back of your neck. He leaned down, slowly, gently, until his forehead rested on yours and he closed his eyes. “Y/N, I…” He swallowed hard, trying to find the words before you stretched up, pressing your lips to his, your hands moving up to his shoulders.

He started laughing softly, grinning against you and he lifted you up against him, swinging you around once. He set you down again gingerly, as if you might break, and you moved your hand along his vibranium arm to entwine your fingers with his. “I love you, too,” you whispered.

He pulled back for a moment, and at first you were afraid you had misunderstood the situation (but, like, fucking how?) Bucky reached behind him to the kitchen island before he presented you with a small gift bag, in your favorite color, identical to the one he had given you before you left. You looked up at him, blushing, before you reached inside. You pulled out a small black velvet box, and when you looked up at Bucky to ask him what it was, he was smiling gently, moving to kneel in front of you. You gasped softly and tears stung at your eyes before you looked down at the box again. Slowly, you opened it, hands shaking, and upon seeing the simple silver band with the one solitary, circular diamond in it, the tears spilled over your eyes and your hand came up to cover your mouth. You looked at him, trying not to cry, your hand concealing a giant grin. “Bucky, you aren’t proposing are you?”

Bucky was smiling at you, his own eyes misted over, and he reached up to take the hand down to him. “Y/N YL/N, I have loved you since the moment I saw you. You have been my best friend, my rock, my inspiration. When I thought I had lost you, it destroyed me and as I sat in that waiting room, I decided that if you came out, I would never lose you again. I guess what I’m trying to say is, well, do you think you could do me the absolute honor of becoming my wife?”

You took in a shuddering breath before nodding, trying not to sob, and he grinned from ear to ear, blue eyes shining. He took the ring and slipped it onto your finger, a perfect fit, before you threw your arms around him, almost tackling him to the ground. Behind you, applause burst out and you squealed, turning to see. Everybody was standing there, all of them smiling, Steve and Strange’s grins the widest of them all. You laughed and turned back to Bucky. You wiped your eyes hard before pressing your forehead against his, just laughing.

Xxx

The wedding was several months in the making after Bucky proposed. Too damn long, if you asked yourself. But when the day was here, you almost couldn’t believe it. Your dress was perfect. It fit you like a glove and made you look like an angel. You wore a simple white rose in your hair and a sheer veil was pinned under your bun. Your makeup was perfect, and you had managed to get one of the best nights of sleep in your life the night before so you were well rested on top of all that. You looked like a goddess.

Wanda and Natasha had helped you get ready, but some of the girlfriends had popped in throughout the day as well. Christine in particular had been super excited to see you, as she and Strange had finally gotten back together so she was now like a sister to you.

It was a few minutes before the music was to begin. You had heard people shuffling through to their seats through the door to your room in the church. The only guy who had come in to see you was Strange. Since Steve was obviously Bucky’s best man, you thought it only right that Strange, the closest thing to family you have, would be the one to walk you down the aisle. When he saw you, you could’ve sworn he teared up for a second before he locked it back up and smiled. “You look amazing,” he said. You smiled and leaned in to hug him, chuckling when he uncharacteristically kissed your cheek before he squeezed you. He pulled away and put his hands on your shoulders, face serious. “This is it. Are you ready? It’s not too late to run.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled. “I’ve been ready for years.”

He smiled and nodded. He opened a tiny portal to tell the DJ to start the music (because, y’know, texting him or walking out of the door was just not good enough.) He closed the portal and walked with you to the door before he helped you pull your veil down and held out his arm for you to take. You reached up to clutch Bucky’s ring, taking a deep breath to calm yourself down. It would do no good to burst into a fit of giggles in the middle of the aisle because you were too excited. After a moment, you slipped your arm through Strange’s and nodded.

The aisle was decorated with white and purple flower petals which matched the flowers that were bunched on the end of each pew. The entryway to the chapel had been tastefully decorated with strings bearing pictures of you and Bucky throughout your lives (someone had even found some baby pictures of him,) leading up to a picture of the two of you in fancy clothes, leaning over a circular table with a candle and a rose in a vase at a restaurant, both of you beaming like idiots. You smiled at it and wiped your eyes quickly, looking ahead of you. The bridal music began and everyone stood and turned towards you. You giggled, excitement burning through every fiber of your body. All of the Avengers were here, even Thor and Loki, and everybody was wearing their best. Even Banner had managed to wiggle into a suit, and even if he did look ridiculously uncomfortable, he looked awesome, and Tony had insisted on buying Peter a designer suit which he wore with pride next to May.

You and Strange stepped forward down the aisle, and he squeezed your hand, smiling at you from the side. You smiled back before you let yourself look towards the alter, heart pounding in your chest.

Steve was wearing a fitted black suit with a purple bowtie and cummerbund. His hair was coiffed to the side and he had combed his beard neatly. He was grinning, his unnaturally perfect teeth glinting in the light. You couldn’t help but smile back, glancing down at your feet for a moment before looking back up. Stepping out from behind him was Bucky. He had trimmed his hair neatly so that it framed his face a little better. His suit was the same shade white as your dress, but he also wore a purple bow tie and cummerbund. He had his hands in front of him, fiddling with the watch that Steve had gotten him, but his eyes were on you, wide with adoration and awe, his mouth spread in an open-toothed airy grin. It took everything in you not to just sprint towards him, but Strange’s hand tethered you to now, to this moment.

As you two approached the humble alter, Strange took your hand from his arm and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it, smiling at you like a big brother might. You smiled back before he took his seat and you turned towards Bucky. He took your hand in his vibranium one and together you turned to face forward. Steve crossed around to stand in front of you, having been ordained specifically for this wedding, a small binder in hand. He took a small breath and smiled at the two of you before he started the ceremony, “Dear friends, we’ve gathered here to witness the union of Y/N Y/L/N and Sgt. James Buchannan Barnes. And boy has it been a long time coming.” You and the audience had a short chuckle.

It was a short ceremony. You and Bucky had written your own vows, and neither of you could make it through without crying. As Steve handed Bucky the rings, Bucky lifted your veil and a new wave of tears filled his eyes, making new tears sting at yours.

“Bucky, do you take Y/N to be your lawfully wedded wife, to care for her in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, and forsaking all others from this day forward?”

Bucky nodded, wiping his eyes before he grinned, slipping a second band onto your ring finger. “I do.”

“Y/N, do you take Bucky to be your lawfully wedded husband, to care for him in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, and forsaking all others from this day forward?”

Your voice cracked as you said, “I do,” and slipped Bucky’s ring onto his vibranium finger, and Steve barely had enough time to pronounce you two man and wife before Bucky had swept you up in his arms, spinning you around as he kissed you with all the love in his body, your friends cheering raucously for the both of you.


End file.
